Virgil Goode polled more votes in seven states than any previous Constitution Party presidential nominee. Those states are Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, and Wyoming.

The Constitution Party has never placed its presidential nominee on the ballot in North Carolina, but Goode’s write-in total of 619 is higher than any previous write-in total for the party’s presidential nominee in that state. Thanks to Kevin Hayes for the North Carolina figure.

10 Responses

Yet Congressman Goode still pulled worse than Chuck Baldwin, Michael Peroutka and Howie Phillips in 1996. I think the CP has to rank as one of the bigger third party flops this year (my own candidate Rocky Anderson’s bid is another). I wonder what the CP will do from here.

It strikes me that the Constitution Party’s “business model” is fatally flawed. As long as they continue as the Republican Party’s minor league affiliate they will always be GOP conservatives’ second choice. The “wasted vote” syndrome and the fact that contributions will flow to a GOP hopeful until it is too late just makes it difficult, if not impossible, for the CP to make serious progress. I see no hope for the future unless and until something changes.

When comparing the vote totals of the Constitution Party’s Presidential candidates with past elections, some adjustments need to be made. First off is looking at WHICH states the party qualified for the ballot in each election. For example: in 1996, the party was able to petition onto the Texas ballot ONLY through the very generous donation of a well-heeled resident of that state. Second, the party’s vote percentage should be calculated by only using those states where the party WAS ON the ballot. Third, there are several parts of the Constitution Party platform that are much closer to the Libertarian Party position rather than the Republican Party. So when the Libertarian Party has a more effective candidate like Gov.Johnson, the Constitution Party will have greater competition for those particular voters.

@7 Yes, Virgil Goode was a great choice for the CP. They just majorly flopped at campaigning and garnering ballot access. Jack Fellure of the Prohibitionsits, on the other hand, was a horrid candidate with even more outrageously bad ballot access support (or the lack thereof).